Ejim Heads To Russia For World University Games

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State senior forward Melvin Ejim will be a member of Canada’s 12-player World University Games team. The World University Games will be held in Kazan, Russia from July 6-17.

Ejim, a Toronto, Ontario native, and his Canadian teammates will open play Sunday against Sweden at 9:30 p.m. (CDT). Canada will also face the United States, Australia, the Czech Republic and United Arab Emirates in pool C. The first and second place teams in the four pools will advance to the medal round, which starts on July 14.

In June, Ejim joined the Canadian team in China where it went 9-0 during the Four Nations’ International Invitational Tournament.

Ejim averaged 11.3 points to go along with a Big 12-best 9.3 rebounds last season for Iowa State. He also notched 15 double-doubles, the most in the Big 12, en route to earning All-Big 12 Third-Team honors.

Ejim, who trained with the Nigerian National Team last summer, is the fourth Iowa State player to participate in the World University Games. He joins Victor Alexander (United States, 1989), Craig Brackins (United States, 2009) and Lucca Staiger (Germany, 2009).